George Hooker (rugby league) Puns

I've noticed many here particularly annoyed with the state of rugby league coverage across our major media networks. Whether it's Danny Weidler unnecessarily squeezing his head into frame or James Hooper yelling over Lara Pitt, rugby league coverage can seem pretty poor and reliant on outrage.

I have also noticed more and more members of this subreddit asking about independent coverage. So I thought I'd throw together a table of what is out there not being run by the mainstream media companies.

Full disclosure, I own Rugby League Monthly.

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I'd also ask that you don't post the full text of articles that appear on these sites. The massive sites can handle losing a few hundred or thousand views because their traffic is in the millions. These sites aren't and rely on traffic from communities like this to boost their numbers which assist with Google rankings. Also don't post the full text or content behind their paywalls if you access it. Those that have paywalls are pretty damn affordable and those subscription fees are generally used to keep the sites online.

If I've missed a site or project you think should be included, let me know.

My father and I bond through watching and discussing sports, particularly Rugby League, Cricket and AFL (in that order).

A topic that comes up pretty often is, how we rate the people behind the mic (or camera).

We always agree that Sterlo is probably #1 and the best former player as an analyst and commentator (i feel its like gospel in league circles - many fans would probably agree), but we often differ on the order from there.

Rabs is getting older and slowing down a little, but that dramatic, booming voice has been the background to so many great moments for me that I can't knock him.

Gus pisses off alot of people, but I think he genuinely has a great rugby league brain, and, on a side note, I had an encounter with Gus that was very positive that also makes it hard for me to knock him.

I've always been a fan of Vossy, because it feels like he was a guy in the stands, jokingly commentating on games and a higher up heard and gave him a gig and the rest was history.

I've never really been a fan of Anasta - he rarely seems to offer anything original for me - a bit captain obvious at times.

Warren Smith gets a little over-the-top, but he's been calling for over 25 years so he must be doing something right.

Unfortunately, I was but a blob when Darrell Eastlake used to go around so I couldn't tell you what he was like.

My QLDer bias means I'm partial to Fatty and Wally, both are getting a bit old and doughy and unfortunately Wally goes a little slow these days. I still appreciate a bit of colour from Vautin.

I find Freddie is comfortable speaking his mind a little more than the others, however, I cringe when I see him eating protein bars and drinking manshakes on national TV.

Of the newer generation, I don't mind Slater, Cronk and Ennis. Interestingly a referee (might have been badger) recently came out and said that Ennis was the most difficult player to referee because you had to be on the ball, as Ennis would come up after a penalty and cite Rule 23 Section B or something like that.

Gallen has assumed the antagonistic-unpopular opinion role and it probably suits him well being a villain, he revels in it to some extent.

JT isn't really a fit for media duties, he looks mostly nervous all the time and struggles with pronounciation. However, he is a future immortal, a talisman, and alot of people north of the tweed still remember what he did for the Cowboys, QLD and the country. I highly doubt his popularity will drop in QLD anytime soon.

Joey

I wanted to make this post because I believe that properly caring for our mental health is important. But to preface this, anything written here is not medical advice, and if you are feeling signs of depression or anxiety, please talk to a trusted mental health medical professional, see BeyondBlue for more information.

I do not wish to speculate on the exact reasons why George Williams wanted to leave the Raiders and also what his mental state is. That is not the point of this thread. But I know that there are people out there who may be struggling at the moment, who are looking at this saga and seeing a whole bunch of journalist discuss whether his 'mental health' concerns are real, no one has the right to tell you what your mental health is, and whether your issues are real or not.

What I did want to say is that even when you are struggling, you can go through periods of good times where you feel like you are completely fine, just like you can go through periods where you feel like you shouldn't even exist. If you have read a certain news article today, The suggestion is that because George Williams was saying things over the summer, he can't really be having mental health issues and that it's about money or something else.

This can be a really dangerous message, if we treat people this way where we act like "they can't be depressed because they were happy or functioning normally at a certain time" we diminish and invalidate something we should have NO SAY over. We should be there for our mates. People are much more complex than what this 'person' wants you to believe, there are so many variables in play. Maybe George was having a good summer and things were feeling a bit better, maybe he had had a long conversation with his family and had thought he could make it, maybe he thought being in a different area might be better for his well-being, maybe it was because he was away from the rigorous training, maybe it was one of literally a hundred things that made him think he could continue playing in Australia. People are more complex than "Because you did A then that must mean B isn't true." Don't let fake people tell you otherwise.

I once lost a friend to depression, I think about her most days. She once bought me a clock out of the blue because one day I told her that i was worried about missing my alarm for morning training. She was one of the most giving people i'd ever met, at the time I didn't recognize the signs but I really wish I did.

If you t

Basically the title, I've watched a few of the full matches from this season and just want a team to get behind. Ive seen pretty varying opinions of the Knights so I figure they would be a good side to support.

What I really want to know is who to look out for when watching the matches and who do we not like?

Having watched the Australian super rugby sides dismantled by their NZ counterparts over the past fortnight I can’t help but think what a Wallabies backline would look like if Rugby League didn’t exist. I’m not much of a Leaguey so maybe I’ve got some players out of position here. But surely a line up like this would be the best in the world...

9 Harry Grant 10 Nathan Cleary 11 Josh Addo Carr 12 Cameron Munster 13 Latrell Mitchell 14 James Tedesco 15 Tom Trbojevic

What do you think? Only issue I could see is in tactical kicking, Fullback especially needs to be a gun kick.

Edit: Luke changed to Nathan

Is it just me or are there very few resources available on the underlying mechanics of playing rugby league.

For example, I’m 23, wanting to start playing Rugby League again next year after not playing since I was 17. I’ve played front row all my life and my skill set was simplified down for 10 years to “Run straight and hard, hit and drive the legs”. I’m wanting to learn how to play Hooker, the specifics of passing the ball (I can throw a pass to the left with ease but my right is pretty shoddy), differing tackle techniques that don’t involve hitting and driving which will absolutely kill me for 80 minutes and the positioning and control aspect of a hookers game.

For Tennis you can google howto hit a forehand and there’s hundreds of videos detailing every minute part of hitting the forehand, foot positioning, back arc, energy transfer from the feet. Basketball is the same, hundreds of videos on hand placement for shooting passing and dribbling. Also many resources on how to fix specific inconsistencies e.g. “My shot always falls short” and you can find videos on ways to combat and fix those issues. And lastly my main point, positioning and responsibilities of each position in basketball, which is hardly covered at all for Rugby League.

But with rugby league there are only small resources online here and there and no way to figure out inconsistencies apart from training under a coach that “might” have an idea on how to fix them. I’d have even less luck googling how to play hooker everything from passing to positioning and controlling the ruck and understanding how to organise forwards.

You can argue the skills can only really be learnt by playing the game, but I wish there was a bit more theory when it comes to playing League.

So if anyone has advice on switching to Hooker from the front row and any drill ideas for working on my left spiral, I’m all ears.

Sorry for the body of text just firing a small rant.

Rugby League Project has these players as the only ones to score at least 6 tries in a game before tonight:

Frank Burge (Glebe) - 8 tries/Jun 19th, 1920 - Glebe vs. University, 6 tries/Jul 1st, 1916 - North Sydney vs. Glebe

Roderick O'Loan (Eastern Suburbs) - 7 tries/May 11th, 1935 - Sydney vs. University

David Brown (Eastern Suburbs) - 6 tries/Aug 10th, 1935 - Sydney vs. Canterbury, Aug 31st, 1935 - Balmain vs. Sydney

Alan Ridley (Western Suburbs) - 6 tries/Jul 11th, 1936 - Western Suburbs vs. Newtown

John Lindwall (St George) - 6 tries/May 3rd, 1947 - St George vs. Manly Warringah

John Troy (Newtown) - 6 tries/Jul 8th, 1950 - Sydney vs. Newtown

If you want to count international play, Valentine Holmes has also scored 6 tries once, against Fiji at the 2017 RLWC. Hugh McGahan has also scored 6 against PNG in 1983 (per u/lachjeff).

TL;DR Frank Burge and David Brown are legends for doing it twice.

Source: NRL - Records - Rugby League Project

Newcastle Knights and former Huddersfield teenage wing sensation Dom Young is one of a number of new faces selected for the initial Jamaica 2021 Rugby League World Cup train-on squad.

https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/1972/jamaica-announce-world-cup-train-on-squa?fbclid=IwAR2dnUVmlG_R6VjJeZsjvQSPYVAlk8JPfomGVNRPa-aAIjPU7Iwb48uxU88

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